The inspiration for this beer was my first taste of Ithaca 13 (info can be found here http://ithacabeer.com/category/beers/excelsior/). I absolutely loved how the citrus zest interacted with the Citra and Sorachi Ace hops, so much so that I think I've bought more bottles of 13 than all other beers combined this past year. It didn't take long before I decided that I had to develop a recipe based on the same ideas. It came out so well that it's something I'll be making regularly.

I wanted it to be something I could have a few pints of so kept the ABV to around 7%. The defining feature of the beer is a massive 5min addition of fresh citrus zest (edit: I usually go with flameout and a 15min rest before chilling nowadays for the zest). I zested the entirety of 17 pieces of fruit (listed below) and wound up with a tennis ball sized ball of zest, all of which went into the beer. It seems like a LOT of zest... well, it IS a lot of zest!

(the fruit to the left was extra, it has not been zested)

The bitterness in this beer is very smooth as it is derived entirely from a small first wort hop addition and late additions. Citra provides tropical fruit notes while Sorachi Ace complements it with lemoney and slight peppery notes. Palisade works to enhance the pepper and a bit of tropical fruit. The actual zest can be varied depending on what is available and to your tastes. The recipe as written below will come out with a distinct orangey flavor.

From my experience, I've found that I really love the flavors of this beer when it's as fresh as can be. The hops and citrus work really well together. As it gets a bit older it naturally loses a bit of brightness, but at 4 months or so a new balance of flavor develops when the zest flavors are more prominent.

Any clean ale yeast should work great.

Oh, and don't let all that delicious fruit go to waste! If you have no other use for it, squeeze it all for juice! It goes great with 'breakfast for dinner' after brew day!

Just a little update, I did another batch of this with commonly available citrus fruits: 3 navel oranges, 3 lemons, 3 limes, 4 tangerines, 1 white grapefruit, 1 red grapefruit (15 pieces total). The aroma and flavor are just as amazing. It's a little less orange-focused and more towards the grapefruit, not surprisingly. It's quite a bit closer to the profile of Ithaca 13. So if you want to try it out, all these fruits are available all the time most everywhere, just hit up your local supermarket.

It makes for a fairly pricey beer with all this fruit but if you ask me, it's totally worth it. This is something I'll be making at least 3 times a year in various forms. Thankfully I bought a pound of Citra before it sold out everywhere

will be attempting this beer this weekend it looks amazing, I love Citrus.
I may increase the Citra Hops a little, love Citra Hops too

Thank you for the recipe!!!!

How'd that go? Def post how how it turns out

2.5 months out from brewday my latest batch has developed a distinct lemony characteristic. It's fun how this beer goes through stages like an IPA but nice how when the hops start to fade it reveals another layer of flavor as opposed to just falling flat.

For those of you who added to the boil or at flameout, do you remove the zest before transferring to the fermenter? Some have speculated that the fruit may begin to rot in the fermenter. Has anyone had any experiences with this?